The Biblical scene painted on the dish depicts the young Joseph escaping from the advances of Zuleika, Potiphar's wife. The story, popular in the iconographical repertoire of print-makers, was executed in several different manners and styles in Europe from the early 16th century.

This specific version, where the woman grasps Joseph's cloak, was linked to an engraving made by Marcantonio Raimondi between 1515 and 1525, after a fresco by Raphael in the Vatican Logge, although it is likely that the direct source was a later print.

Physical description

Plate of saucer shape; decorated with a scene of Potiphar's Wife; painted inside with a scene of a columned European interior with a half-clad woman attempting to detain a young man; over the doorway is a figure in a niche and in the foreground is a ewer and a basket.